We report a case of giant cell tumor of the tendon sheath involving the foot, in a 21-year-old female patient, who presented with an asymptomatic tumor on the dorsum of her right foot. Histopathologically the tumor is surrounded by thin fibrous connective tissue. The characteristic findings of the excised specimen revealed a typical mixture of abundunt round or polygonal histocyte-like cells with varying portions of spindle-shaped fibroblast-like cells and multinucleated giant cells. Variable amounts of hyalinized fibrous stromal tissue were also present. After excision, local recurrence has not been observed for 3 months.
Connective Tissue ; Female ; Foot* ; Giant Cell Tumors* ; Giant Cells* ; Humans ; Hyalin ; Recurrence ; Tendons* ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: To evaluate further the right minor and major fissure on thin-section narrow-interval CT scans with particular emphases on orientation, degree of completeness. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thin section CT scans from 10 mm distal to carina to the proximal basal segmental bronchus were obtained at 5 mm invervals in 50 consectutive subjects. Orientation, degree of completeness, and the relationship of the minor and major fissure on thin-section CTscans were analyzed. RESULTS: Four principal types of the minor fissure could be identified according to the highest point of the upper surface of the middle lobe. At bronchus intermedius level, the major fissure appeared with its medial end anterior to lateral end in 45 subjects. The minor fissure was complete in only 10 subjects (20%). Completely absent minor fissure was noted in four subjects (8%). The major fissure was incomplete in 17 subjects (34%) at bronchus intermedius level. the minor and major fissure intersected each other in only 27 subjects (54%). The hig best point of intersection was variable. CONCLUSION: There are much more variations in the fissural complex in our study than in previous reports and these variations can be visualized well on thin-section CTscans.
Bronchi ; Lung* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed*

Neonatal lupus erytematosus is a distinct subset of lupus erythematosus. It is characterized by cutaneous findings exhibiting the morphology of subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus, congenital heart block, and anti-Ro/SSA and/or anti-La/SSB autoantibodies which result from the transplacental passage of maternal autoantibodies. We report a case of a 12-week-old female infant who presented with characteristic clinical and histopathological features of cutaneous neonatal lupus erythematosus but without evidence of congenital heart block. Initial serological studies reveled the presence of anti-La/SSB anti-bodies and antinuclear antibodies. 5 months later, follow-up serology was negative in accordance with a clinical remission.
Antibodies, Antinuclear ; Autoantibodies ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Block ; Humans ; Infant ; Lupus Erythematosus, Cutaneous

The CT findings were reviewed in two patients with injuries to the gallbladder following blunt trauma. In one patient high attenuation of intraluminal blood clot within the gallbladder and associated hemoperitoneum were identified. Another patient was represented hemoperitoneum and bile leakage into the peritoneal cavity due to laceration of the fundus of the gallbladder which appeared contrasted.
Bile ; Gallbladder ; Hemoperitoneum ; Humans ; Lacerations ; Peritoneal Cavity

BACKGROUND: Monocytes and T helper cells play major roles in the immunologic dysfunction of atopic dermatitis (AD). Many studies have been done on the cytokine pattern to evaluate abnormalities or differences of immune cells in AD, but the results were conflicting among studies and most of these previous reports were performed with various kinds of mitogen-stimulation. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate spontaneous cytokine pattern in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with AD. We focused on the expression of monokines that had effects on monocytes and T cells. METHODS: We measured mRNA expression of IL-10, GM-CSF and TNF-alpha in freshly isolated PBMC with semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The intensity of cytokine cDNA was normalized to that of beta-actin product as a standard marker. RESULTS: IL-10 mRNA expression was significantly enhanced in AD compared:with control subjects (p<0.05). Spontaneous mRNA expression of TNF-alpha was significantly lower in AD patients (p <0.01). The level of GM-CSF mRNA expression was heterogeneous and spontaneous mRNA expression was slightly increased in AD although the difference did not reach the level of statistical significance. CONCLUSION: Our data was able to represent in vivo cytokine expression state of PBMC in atopic dermatitis. Increased expression of IL-10 and GM-CSF may have been associated with monocyte dysfunction in AD although increase in the expression of GM-CSF mRNA was not statistically significant. TNF-alpha mRNA expression was decreased in AD and increased IL-10 was suggested to exert an inhibitory effect on the expression of TNF-alpha mRNA.
Actins ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; DNA, Complementary ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Humans ; Interleukin-10 ; Monocytes ; Monokines ; RNA, Messenger* ; T-Lymphocytes ; T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

The pubic louse, Pthirus pubis is a blood-sucking ectoparasite adapted to hold onto pubic, axillary and body hairs. It is usually confined to the pubic and inguinal region. However, it may also rarely involve the scalp and eyelashes. We report two cases of phthiriasis occurring on unusual sites, the first case occurring on the scalp of a 5 month-old male infant, and the second case on the eyelashes of a 49-year-old fe-male.
Eyelashes ; Hair ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phthiraptera ; Scalp

As the traffic accidents and occupational accidents increase, the pure blow out fracture has been increased. If we could know the prognostic information of the pure blowout fracture according to the fracture sites, it would be of benefit in consulting the patients preoperatively and in planning the treatment. In this study we defined the posterior wall fracture as that extending 2 cm from orbital rim and the anterior wall fracture as that presenting within 2 cm from orbital rim. These fractures were individually classified into inferior wall fractures, medial wall fractures, and combined inferior and medial wall fractures, based on the operative finding and the preoperative CT scanning. We experienced 76 cases of pure blowout fracture patients underwent surgical correction and followed up the subsidence of diplopia and extraocular muscle limitation with ophthalmic Hess test. The results obtained are as following: 1. Posterior wall fractures were improved more slowly than anterior wall fractures. 2. Combined inferior and medial wall fractures were improved more slowly than isolate inferior wall or medial wall fractures. These results may be related to the difference of the traumatic forces and the anatomical structure of the fracture sites. These results inform the importance of accurate anatomical reconstruction of fracture sites and can be used as a prognostic information of the pure blow out fractures.
Accidents, Occupational ; Accidents, Traffic ; Diplopia ; Humans ; Orbit ; Orbital Fractures* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Results from two in vitro assays, Pharmacia CAP system(CAP) and fluoroallergosorbent test(FAST), for detecting serum specific IgE to three allergens, mugwort, Derraatophagoides pteronyssinus, and eat epithelium, were compared with skin prick test(SPT) results in 53 atopie dermatitis patients with positive SPT and 25 non-atopic controls. Using SPT results as the reference standards, CAP achieved higher sensitivity than FAST in determination of three allergens. CAP for measuring total IgE and eosinophil cationic protein(ECP) was also compared with FAST and ECP radioimmunoassay(RIA), respectively. In comparison of two assays for total serum IgE, the values obtained with CAP were significantly higher than those with FAST. In comparison of CAP and RIA for measuring ECP, the values obrained with CAP were significantly higher than those with RIA and the differences between ECP values of two assays were significant in high ECP group(>8.3 micro gram/1). These results suggest that CAP is the preferred test and seems to be more appropriate method for detection of specific IgE and ECP in patients with allergic digeases.
Allergens ; Artemisia ; Dermatitis ; Eosinophil Cationic Protein* ; Eosinophils* ; Epithelium ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; Radioimmunoassay* ; Skin

The skin is a frequently involved organ in graft-versus-host disease(GVHD). Various skin lesions including erythematous eruption, bullae, desquamation, lichenoid, and sclerodermoid lesions have been reported in GVHD, but vitiligo-like lesions were. We present two cases of chronic GVHD presenting multiple hypopigmented patches following allogenic bone marrow transplant(BMT) due to severe aplastic anemia. The histopathologic studies showed focal vacuolar degeneration of basal cells, absence of melanocytes in the epidermis, and perivascular lymphocytic infiltration consisting of T cells in the upper dermis, These cases suggest that vitiligo-like lesions may develop due to marked melanocyte- lymphocyte interaction after BMT.
Anemia, Aplastic ; Bone Marrow ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Lymphocytes ; Melanocytes ; Skin* ; T-Lymphocytes ; Vitiligo

Suicide notes are essential for investigating the psychological state of suicide victims and establishing suicide prevention programs. Since only a few studies have attempted to identify the causes of suicidal behavior through suicide notes, it would be worth examining suicide notes. Quantitative research on suicide has offered a limited understanding of suicide. Results showed that the suicide victims had used the suicide note as a tool for their last communication. Further, in addition to neutral contents such as directions for funeral, the note often contained information about precipitating events that caused the suicidal ideation. Writing a suicide note seemed to help the victims consider concrete plans for suicide. This study proved that qualitative research on suicide notes would be helpful for researchers to understand suicide victims in depth, which cannot be achieved by quantitative methods alone. Based on these results, several suggestions for suicide prevention programs were discussed.
Qualitative Research ; Suicidal Ideation ; Suicide* ; Writing